The Zombie Ritual: A Second Coming (Novella)
The first three chapters of The Zombie Ritual: A Second Coming are under the link to the pdf. Unfortunately, the store is not fully functional right now, so if you want a copy, just email me at jcorryjr6@gmail.com.
Blurb: When a zombie outbreak puts a teenage dance party to a bloody end, 16-year-old metalhead and philosophy enthusiast Chuck Zelmer finds himself in a graphic, though thoroughly academic chase through the halls of the luxurious Bed and Breakfast where the party took place.
Reviews:
"Not really sure if this is a good zombie story or an introduction to philosophy! Interesting concept and good writing." Goodreads reviewer
"Even for philosophy this is convoluted." -One-star Amazon reviewer
One: Drives, Wives, and Conflicting Vibes
“Shut the FUCK up, Gene! You’re ruining the song!!!”
It was The-Day-Before-the-Fourth-of-July, and Chuck’s dad had Bruce Springsteen on the stereo– but Chuck wanted nothing to do with it. He’d only heard his dad yelling as he was in between songs on his IPod (‘Regurgitated Death’ and ‘Baptized in Blood’ offa Death’s Scream Bloody Gore). Chuck had discovered Death Metal a few months prior, and while it wasn’t the only factor in this angsty, just-before-senior-year teenage gothkid phase he was then enslaved by, what-was-nice-about-it was that it blocked out just about any other fucking noise in any given enclosed area (like a car?), including, but not limited to: crying infant brothers and middle-aged men com-plaining about problems they couldn’t even understand anymore.
:(
Chuck’s dad turned up the music.
♪♪♪
“Richard,” said Chuck’s mom from the passenger seat, “the baby is already crying–”
“You hearing this, Chuck?!” Chuck’s dad YELLED. “You’re gonna LOVE this shit when you’re older!”
They were halfway through their hour-and-a-half drive to Northern California. By this point, the scenery was very much forest-laden, with tall, bright oleander and coral trees along the sides of the highway. Chuck did his best to avoid conversation, but even death metal has its occasional quiet-pretty part–
His phone went off; it was another text from his GF (girlfriend). They’d been together for Two Full Months, and had even done hand stuff:
‘omg bae I am so stoked =D =D =D <3’
Chuck smiled.
X)
‘me too boo :) <3’
4
‘=D you got my sparkling raspberry vodka right?’
‘Of course lover =D I texted Paul the moment you asked me <3 <3’
‘I LOVE YOU SO SO SOOOOO MUCH!!! <3 <3 <3 =˚’
‘Love you too baby :) <3 XP’
‘and none of your parents know?’
‘nope they’ll all be gone the whole night at some yacht for the 4th won’t be back until Sunday morning I still can’t believe how cool Rufus has been like he promised not to tell any of our parents and the ballroom is gonna be closed off to the entire rest of the complex during the party’
‘the WHOLE party??? :O’
‘yea’
‘OMG!!! =D thats so awesome bae’
“–Chuck, are you texting Helen again?”
His smile dissipated into dust and ash like the Dying ant BURNT alone amidst the deepest (!) and hottest (!!) fires in all of Stalin’s hell (!!!)– as his mother turned around.
“How often do you talk to her every day?”
“Excuse my tone, mother,” Chuck said. “But I don’t believe that to be any of your goddamned concern–”
“CHUCK! Language!–”
“Your mother is right, son,” his dad interrupted. “You need to start caring more about your future. You’ll be heading off to college next year. This is no time to be wasting your life away with some high school fling-bitch, let alone listening to that crazy heavy metal noise as
5
it’s if at all better than Springsteen or the Bee Gees –God, I love the Bee Gees–”
“It’s not crazy,” Chuck said. “In fact, it’s far more musically interesting than any of that shit you listen to–”
“Chuck! Again! LANGUAGE!!! Are you fucking serious right now?–”
“Hey, we’re all entitled to our own opinions,” Chuck’s dad again interrupted. Then he went back to singing and occasionally gazing out his window and tapping his hand on its bottom. (‘I want to know if love is wild, babe, I wanna know if love is real…’[1])
Chuck fired back: “But Mom, Dad’s talkin’ shit!”
“I don’t care. I’m your mother, and your brother is in the car–”
“They’re only words!–”
“Words grow!” and she turned back around to face frontward. “Like people. I don’t expect you to get that now, but you will as you get older, trust me…”
“Under command a new-born child
Submerged in blood, the dead they smile
Growing possessed, burning inside
A bloody feast for us tonight”
–Death, ‘Baptized in Blood’[2]
TWO: Family, Hesitated Future, Intro to the Theory of absolute Absolutes/True Relative Opposites, Intro to the Circle of Forms, Relations to ‘Becoming’, Plato’s Absolutes (Phaedo, Phaedrus), Plato’s Absolute Reality (Parmenides, Phaedo, Timaeus)
Chuck’s extended family was pretty wealthy. For over twenty years, his Uncle Kam owned the luxurious ‘Northern CA Bed and Breakfast’ to which Chuck and his family were then headed (name for marketing purposes), complete with five floors, over a hundred rooms, and a ballroom that could match that of the biggest and most luxurious in all of lower Manhattan! It was huge (‘YUUUUUUUUGE!’), located in the middle of a forest in beautiful Northern CA (though Chuck never noticed anything but the bugs). Only a short >ten-minute drive from several different bustling towns, it even had one of those classic ‘oldè’ style dirt roads as the only path leading in-or-out of the place from the main road about a mile out.
Chuck had been to his uncle Kam’s BNB a good several times throughout his life, but this was the first in over three years, the longest he’d gone without visiting. Every couple of months, Chuck’s extended family–most, or all, twenty-nine of them and counting–would meet up for holidays, birthdays, etc. Until the year previous, Chuck got very much along with all of his aunts and uncles, and his G-Dad (or: G-Pa; whatever) was the one who’d turned him onto Jung, Nietzsche, Hegel, Plato, and MLK Jr. by the time Chuck was only twelve. Then came the Gothkid.
Upon parking, Chuck anxiously exited the car. He glanced at the eight 60ft. high Greek columns on both sides of the BNB’s main entrance as he helped his dad with the luggage out the back.
“We were starting to worry that you weren’t coming!” his Uncle Sean SHOUTED as he approached Chuck and co. “Everybody else is already settled in.”
Chuck’s dad: “We took the scenic route–”
“How ya doing, Chuck?”
He shook Chuck’s hand, drew him in for a hug. Then he moved onto Chuck’s parents, to whom he did this same thing (intro, handshake, BIG hug), before asking: “So how did the appointments go yesterday?”
Chuck’s dad: “Great. I think it’s a great alternative to the vaccine,” and he pulled another bag from the trunk. “Natural, organic, not tampered with by greedy bloodsucking demon-scientists; what more could you want?–”
“They’ve only just found it in the Amazon a mere week ago,” added Chuck’s mom. “It is truly, truly incredible–”
“Yea, I’ve heard a ton about it,” said Sean. “I’ve had some friends say they’re doing it for their kids as well, quite a number of them. In fact, just judging from how quickly it’s been distributed throughout the country, it almost makes you question the intention…”
Chuck’s mom: “Although I believe it has yet to be approved by the FDA?–”
“Pft!–”
“You’ve heard the stories,” said Chuck’s dad.
“I have,” responded Uncle Sean, “but I’m not too sure of their legitimacy–”
Richard: “Neither am I,” and he stopped unpacking to face Sean directly, finger sternly pointed. “But I know something is wrong, and I know that part of fixing any problem involves taking chances...”
Lifting his HEAVY bag out the trunk, the rest of Chuck’s family walked up, including several of his cousins.
“Yo, what up, fam?” said Paul.
They fist-bumped.
“Not much, homie–”
“Hi, Chuck!!! How are you?!”
Chuck almost dropped his bag as one of his younger cousins, Terry, ran up and gave him another BIG-ass hug that he didn’t return. Chuck was in the middle, age-wise, of his cousins– Andy and John both being two years older, and Kelly: three. He then had seven more, younger, cousins–Terry being one of them at age eleven–and his two best friends on the planet (aside from Helen, of course) were his two cousins Shannon and Paul, who were both the same age as Chuck, give or take a few months. Paul had short, brown hair–skinny motherfucker–smoked a ton of weed, but remained sharp at all times, and Shannon was a Beautiful Blonde– clearly a future sorority headmaster the month before she walked onto campus a year hence, and was already working her ass off for countless charity events and organizations.
Shannon reached Chuck’s person, and gave him yet another– fucking hug–
“So, how’s Helen?” she asked afterwards.
“She’s good–”
“I still can’t believe you’re dating her, man.” –Paul, looking around to see if any of the parents were eavesdropping on their conversation.
Chuck: “Why?”
“She’s just so–”
“We can’t believe you’re dating anyone is what he meant to say.” –Shannon.
Terry: “That was mean!”
Chuck: “She’s right–”
“Oh, stop,” Shannon said. “I just mean you’re too young to be spending so much time with one girl, especially when you’ve been dating for only two months and haven’t even had sex yet–”
“Yea, that’s totally what I meant to say, like, heh,” said Paul. “You guys are still kids. How can you know what ‘looooove’ is if you’re only a kid ha-ha?” and he gave another awkward chuckle before adding: “Right?–”
“I actually think she’s really cool, like, as a person,” Shannon continued, before quietly laughing to herself for a moment, and saying: “Terry, do you remember when she sang that cover of ‘Epiphany’ from Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street the last time they were over?”
Terry, her eyes closed, one hand on her heart, the other to the sky, ‘mock-opera’ sang: “And I’ll NEEEEVVVVEEERRRR see JOHAAAAANNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–”[3]
“You’re just jealous she’s so hot–”
“Oh, no, I’m not jealous of that,” and Shannon lowered her sunglasses to reveal her BIG blue eyes, and winked at him like she knew what he was really thinking. Then she ran off to greet the rest of Chuck’s family.
Terry followed her.
Paul: “Everything is set, dude.”
He’d finally finished scoping the area. Apparently, he’d formally decided that the parental coast was all clear, or as clear as it would be– all the parents were far too interested in hearing about Shannon’s new ‘Hungry for the Homeless’ endeavor to be paying attention anyway.
“Yea?” Chuck responded. “I wanted to make sure before I invited anybody.”
“Oh yea, dawg,” Paul said. “We even got Reggie the DJ the whole night, and Rufus agreed to keep the kitchen open.”
“Holy shit! That’s awesome! Rufus is the man!”
Chuck WHIPPED out his phone, texted Helen:
it’s on!
so excited! AAHH!!! <3
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
===============DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
“You’re not inviting anyone from last time, right?” –Paul.
“Oh! No…” Chuck said. “I uh... I don’t hang out with them anymore–”
“Well, good. Country sucks balls, and we have more than enough dumbass rednecks here with no brains as it is–”
“Tha’ fuck you just say?”
The speaker of that last quote, Chuck’s older cousin Kelly, walked up, speaking as she went.
“You know I’ve listened to nothing but country since I was five, and I’m about to get a master’s in neuroscience?–”
“What does that have to do with music taste?” –Paul
“What does that have to do with being a dumbass redneck?”
“Potential.”
Kelly waved him off, gave Chuck another–
Fucking hug.
“Tha’ fuck’s the matter with you?” Kelly said when he didn’t hug her back. “Too cool to hug your oldest cousin?–”
“You know she’s in college, right?”
This new speaker, Chuck’s older cousin John, walked up behind Kelly, and ‘playfully’ punched Chuck in the arm, Paul (harder) next.
Paul: “Ow,” as he nursed it.
“Did I see you guys online making fun of a guy in a wheelchair a few days ago?” Kelly asked.
John: “Oh, here we go–”
“It was a joke,” Paul sneered. “Dude beat his girlfriend, he deserved far worse than what we gave him–”
“Are you still seeing Helen?” Kelly ignored.
Chuck: “Yea–”
John: “Bro, you’ve been with her for sooooo loooong, man!”
“I mean, with those dimples, I can’t imagine you aren’t getting at least some opportunities at that fiiiiiiine pussy grabbin’ I know is available at your high school. Or that you won’t over the next year–”
“I think it’s cute–”
“Shut up, Kelly,” John replied. “You haven’t had a boyfriend for more than a night since you were twelve.”
“Oh, you’re exaggerating–”
“Even Shannon had a nice Christian boy under her thumb for a few weeks back in May, and she didn’t even have to ‘nail’ him or anything!–”
John was very proud of his sister for this; put both hands on his hips with a wide smile to express it.
“And she’s like a goooodddddaaaammnnneddd suuperhero when it comes to work ethic and the intricate relationship between political theory, intellect, and individuality in our ever-growing perceivable yet-still-psychologically-evolving physical and meta-physical universe–”
Paul: “He was quite under her thumb though–”
John: “Chuck’s gotta expand his horizons if he wants to be a philosopher when he grows up–”
“I don’t wanna do that anymore, man.”
“Tha’ fuck you just say, bitch?–”
“I said it’s boring and I don’t wanna do it anymore–”
“Then what do you want to do?–”
“If you say play Death Metal for a living,” said Kelly, waving a finger. “I’m taking back all the positive things I’ve ever said about your whore girlfriend–”
John: “Who the fuck are you, Kelly, his ‘relationship probation officer’?–”
“No, I just don’t like her is all. I mean it’s her fucking fault that he’s all obsessed with that demon music now anyway, instead of worrying about his studies–”
“That’s bullshit,” John said. “Chuck, don’t listen to this slut, all she listens to is what’s on the radio–”
Kelly: “That’s because what’s on the radio is nice and simple, and I don’t need music to make me think. Unlike some of us, I do enough of that on my own–”
“I didn’t get into Death Metal because of Helen!” said Chuck. “I got into Death Metal because it’s awesome, and because the shit they play on the radio has no depth or reason for existence outside economics, or as potential fuel for conspiracy theories. Besides, if anything, I got her into Death Metal–”
“You gonna fall in loooooove, bro-dawg?” said John. “Bang for the first time in the ‘Nicest Chapel Under the Stars’ right after the most amazing and romantic wedding ceremony in the history of existence? Fuckin’ prude–”
Paul: “He’s right–”
“I dunno…” Chuck mumbled.
“What about kids?” John said, suddenly turning very serious. “She talkin’ ‘bout havin’ kids yet? You got the papers? CHUCK! I’m serious about this; I’ma need some proof before I beat the living shit outta your dumb ass for ruining your life–”
“Shut up, John. They’re only kids,” said Kelly. “It’s young love,” and she rustled the shag on Chuck’s head. “We’re all looking for it–”
“Pft– You’re looking for it. I like getting’ my dick wet and makin’ that caaaassshhh money, sucka! Hahahaha…”
John put Paul into a headlock, started playfully punching him in the ribs. Chuck could tell that, once again, it did, in fact, hurt Paul quite a bit.
“Are you listening to this, Chuck?” Kelly asked her cousin.
“Yea, I’m hearing it,” but Chuck was lying. He got all hung up on that looooove talk, and this new idea then entering his head: that society was unequivocally invested in watching his innocent youth CRUMBLE like the bad meme it was always made out to be in the mainstream media #ReciprocalSex. ‘Why do they want me to fail?’ he thought to himself.
‘Are they just total jealous-ass-bitches? Pissed off because they lost whatever this is at some time, or at many times; or because they SOLD OUT when they were my age, when they gave in to all those ‘suckas’ telling them that there was something wrong with being in love, and that not caring about anything but love was somehow detrimental to a progressing civilization?
‘What’s a future, not just without #Love[4], but without loving, as its own idea–like a type of ‘love-becoming’, if you will–as well[5]’ he went on in his head, but then he realized that he’d never thought anything like that before, and he shut himself up for a moment. Even just the day before, Helen made some joke about #Love, and Chuck laughed at it. They were both pretty stoned, but they laughed real hard. Was he having this ‘change of heart’ because he was actually falling in love with a person now, and not just the ideas in his favorite books or idols, or the riffs, beats, and lyrics in his Favorite GG Allin lullabies and serenades #BiteItYouScum[6]?
Shannon was likely right to suggest a potential for change after Helen and he had finally done the deed– both of them were ‘virgins’, and they were both very excited to try out that whole ‘sex thing’ they’d always heard such horrible things about. But, as everyone asks, at any age, regardless of the politics: ‘Would sex change the relationship’? Was it really all that ‘complicated’ #ShoutOutToAvrilLavigne? Moreover, if it did end the relationship, would that mean that they weren’t truly in ‘loooove’ before?? Or would it mean, in a more grand/societal context, that they weren’t kids anymore, in that they were no longer willing to so easily give up individuality (or: the moment) for the sake of the greater good (which has gotta be some type of love, right?), without simultaneously losing that knowledge that nothing could ever take away that individuality, even after such a #ComplexDecision had been made?
‘Why should I give a fuck about love now? It’s only an idea[7],’ Chuck thought when he came back around. ‘Half the world is starving or in some kind of terrible situation, and most people think they are (appropriately miserable), even when they aren’t. What could #TrueLove have to do with anything if even God is incapable of employing it on any generalized grand scale? Or: if people would rather get drunk on #Yolo[8] than let God challenge them, or than let ‘that challenge’ challenge what they think they know of God, or of the universe, or happiness, or love– or anything!– or of how all those things interact, or relate to one another?...
‘Or whether ‘hate’ isn’t ‘love’s ‘Absolute’ ‘Opposite’??’
o.O
‘I can’t recognize how hate could be the opposite of some-thing so grand and #TooComplicated as love, or as people so often seem to make love out to be; #Hate is so inherently simple and closed. Considering the Byzantine Conundrum[9] #TheByzantineConundrum implied by the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics[10] in relation to simple opposites by the thinking faculty[11], #Love must have some type of other opposite if it were to be as powerful as certain ‘sects’ make it out to be– or as ‘I’ make it out to be.
‘Love as an entity, or as a #SimpleForm[12], could not Exist without an opposite, yet I cannot easily pinpoint one, even after hours of contemplation, without ignoring its possible[13] opposite being that loving previously mentioned, or a love regarding itself simultaneously as both an individual and a societal ‘emotion’ or ‘relative fact’[14]; something like a more #ComplexForm[15]…
‘But this could not be the case because individual love and societal love are both still coming from the same idea (#Love[16]), ignoring the obvious opposites of the original, more ‘simple’ love vs. this new, more ‘complex’ love? We need opposites to understand concepts. Without that #Relativity, one could not tell black from white, up from down, etc.[17]
‘Plato argued that there are certain Absolute truths[18]. Many disagree. Could #TrueLove be the only Absolute ‘truth’, in that it has no immediate Relative opposite? Because, as its own complex Form masked as simple, it is infinitely open-minded, and, therefore, encompasses even Relativity itself? Or, based on its necessarily higher degree of ignorance of all things beside itself (because, without that, it would be too complex to comprehend (or: Exist?) in focus (in this reality???)), could it be the ultimate, final argument for a potential #AbsoluteRelativity? As some kind of absolute-relative opposition to Plato’s #AbsoluteReality[19]?
‘When people talk about love vs. being in-love–or: loving–what would be the Relative Opposite of loving? Or when we talk about Death vs. being-Dead, or: Dying? Life and Death theoretically cancel each other out–there is no living and being-Dead at the same time (o.O)–but living and Dying imply a time factor (moving-time). Could this imply destruction of simpler Forms, from these other spheres in time, under the umbrella that is the most complex Form[20]? As Plato said in Phaedo[21], all Opposites in this life come from one another: life from Death, man from woman, and potentially vice-versa; it’s that Absolute Relativity thing. But if that were true– which I currently feel it is (that thing about not knowing black without white, life without Death, decent people without judgmental, assuming pricks, etc.) being proof)– it would not imply mere (Simple) Opposites, or even relative ones, but, rather: a sort of circle– a Circle of Life in this case, while simultaneously, however, ignoring a circle of life’s apparent opposite, one more complicated than simply ‘death’, though one still retaining both Simplicity and Complexity the Circle of Life does, that being: a Circle of Death.
‘These two #Circles (life and Death) are part of the same #Complex process, or at least a more complex process than those issued by simpler Forms, which is what makes them Absolute–or closer to an (defined?) Absolute truth– or: more of a relatively absolute Absolute[22]– a Relative absolute Absolute. In this case, the first ‘absolute’ of the term: because we are talking about them as entities within themselves, and not from a personal, or Relative, point of view; the second ‘absolute’: because we are talking about many entities (and (Simple) Forms)[23]; and generally Relative because the two imply one another, and need each other, in order to Exist–in fact, needing of all Forms, of all caliber (so: including ‘Simple’, ‘Complex’, ‘absolute’, ‘Absolute absolute’ (and its variations), and ‘Overseer’ (and its degrees))–in order to Exist–
‘But, as this circle[24]– any circle– is ignoring the mere poss-ibility of its own destruction, of its own deletion, its birth– it still being mimicked as ‘Simple’ in this circumstance (also: any circumstance where any ‘definition’ must be made), and Simple being what it necessarily can’t be, any ‘circle’ inherently being a Complex Form (because it’s a fucking circle, after all #DontBeSuchASquareDawg)–this is still underdeveloped. Is this where life (Simple/singular) versus a kind of Dying-life (that is, a Complex Form constrained by time or by contradictions (in this case those contradictions being a com-bination of the form of one thing (life), in Thought as a mental faculty[25], and its Opposite Form (in this case, Dying, as opposed to Death, which would be life’s Simple Opposite), as an Action, or Will #Becoming) through the will[26] as another mental faculty) come into play?–
‘Can this circle of Absolute Absolutes, this overseeing focused/unfocused infinity of the web of life and thought in all of Existence– advanced or otherwise– that perceived divine inter-pretation!– coming from a different sphere– one unknowable in this life![27]– be a way of canceling out Forms or concepts? Or, perhaps much more so, those circles of complexities and #Byzantine-Conundrums which have always ruled over man’s thought, preventing us from becoming– THE DIVINE!– we so perceive as such a Simple Abstract only as lost or as found as it can be readily perceived or destroyed??
oo.OOOOOOOo
‘And is this all still occurring under the ringleader I just coined #TrueLove earlier? Or #TIME?!?! Even the Absolute Abso-lutes?!?!?!?!–
Chuck looked across the parking lot to his dad and thought of his G-Pa/G-Dad, or what-the-fuck-ever. Chuck’s G-Pa/Dad/dude/ person/thing spent over forty years after the war teaching the fourth grade before retiring and becoming a full-time ‘philosophy’[28] writer. Guy was very progressive politically, liberal out the ass, and very, very– Catholic.
‘It’s certainly bigger than them,’ he continued, referring to those who judge and acquiesce to terror before actually thinking about things[29]. ‘Those who choose to ignore thought for an #Absolute and total replacement by the Will in the singular sense–a type of #Singularity[30] in itself being more necessitated and inherently unquestionable than any other Form or kind of Form–or vice versa: those who revel in that need of a subjectively relative viewpoint[31]. If they don’t see the Absolute Absolute in the Quantum Relativity that is the infinitely complex concept-in-process which rules over all thought, will, judgment, evolution and being–in #Time (so: different than ‘in life’ (or: undefined time in Plato’s Absolute/Eternal Reality))–run by those quantum mechanics in which man could never–almost by definition (right now, at least (Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle))–fully understand–which is the beauty of it!–do they succumb to the vortex which implies that never-ending #CircleOfLifeVersusDeath?–the simple deletion–or: of living life as though one were already Dead? Simply because of Death’s implied possibility??? And the implied possibility of its implied impossibility’s implied possibility of inevitability?’
Chuck put a finger in his chin dimple and squinted his eyes…
ooOoOOooOo.OOooOOOOOOOooOOO
‘But is this just yet another way of getting ‘stuck’ in the Circle?’ he eventually came to #LEAVITALONEDUDE!. ‘Just another way of finding oneself Comfortably Numb in that boundless Tornado of Souls that so ‘consciously’ comprises the difference between the Dying life and the living Dead?...’
Chuck shook his head and closed his eyes as he faced the ground. In the corner of his ear, he heard Kelly blabbering on about some fucking thing involving dancing shadows on a cave wall she’d seen in some dream she’d had the other night. Chuck had only heard her tell this story about a billion freaking times, but whatever.
‘Fuck these fuckers,’ he finally decided, ‘they don’t know; they don’t know shit about me. They don’t know shit about SHIT about the future- about music, Plato, time, #Time, Forms, love, political correctness, or #TrueLove; they don’t know shit about shit about SHIT…’
He closed his eyes TIGHTER.
><
‘They don’t know, they don’t know, they don’t know…’
>< >< ><
THREE: Teenage Dance Parties, Hormones, Racism as a Complex Form, Emotion/Technicality as a Relative Absolute, Vague Interpretations of the Individual in Society, Plato’s Theory of Forms (Republic, Phaedo, Parmenides, Timaeus), Complex Absolutes, #Absolute-Relativity, Intro to ‘Overseeing’ Forms, Intro to #ASingularDivinity
Mmph–Mmph–Mmph–Mmph–ONOMATOPOEIA! ONO- ONOMATOPOEIA!!!!!! MATO–ONO–ONOMATO–POEIA–POEIA–POEIA-PEE-AH!!!! ONOMATOPOEIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was well after dark– and the party was well underway. Everything had gone according to plan. Reggie the DJ (with help) set everything up before any of Chuck’s sixty-out-of-twenty-five invited friends showed up. That ratio also went for Shannon, Paul, and everyone else involved with the planning of the party; i.e. the place was packed. The food was great– Rufus cooked the immediate family’s steaks personally– and nobody of responsibility in the entire luxurious #TheMostLuxurious #LuxuriousEvenForLuxurious Bed and Breakfast was at all knowledgeable that there were a bunch of underage kids in the ballroom getting shitty offa cheap beer and random Midwestern liquor brands nobody’d ever heard of. And when I say shitty, I mean shitty–
“I can’t be-blieve you cooked my steak, Rupert! Fuck!!”
“It’s Rufus, John, I’ve known you your entire life,” Rufus reminded John. “By the way, you’re doing a fantastic job of setting your younger cousins a good example–”
“Yo FUCK YOU MEXICAN!!! You know I can DEPORT YOUR ASS!!!–”
“You wanna see my papers?!–
“WHAT?!–”
“I’ll show you my papers bitch, just like every other fucking day–”
“DO IT!!!–”
The music LOUD, Helen slithered through the crowd sipping on her sixth vodka and cranberry since she switched from shots and long island iced teas a little under two hours prior. BIG smile never leaving her face, she danced in between John and Rufus in a natural attempt to shorten the distance between her and her lover, inadvertenly helping John to get himself out of a situation that could have very easily turned deadly.
Chuck watched as Paul failed at hitting on his tenth victim of the night.
“I’ll snap a picture of my waxed asshole right now–as proof–if it were that important to you–”
She rolled her eyes. Paul pulled out his phone.
“Here, look–”
She walked off–
“No, no, don’t go! This is just how politically astute people talk!”
Helen arrived, fell into the arms of Paul’s drunken relative (aka: Chuck).
“Oh my God, not this shit again,” said Paul.
Helen: “Hey, Baby…”
Paul walked off to find more alcohol.
“Hey, Boo…”
They did a little dance together, ‘made out’ for much longer than any mature or not-drunk couple would be okay with doing in public #Priorities #ComeOnGrowUpDudeLikeComeOn #TheMore-TongueTheLessRomanticEveryoneKnowsThat #LikeComeOn #Such-ChildrenUgh #SoImmature #GrowUp.
“So you’re still trying to go to a room later tonight, right?” Chuck asked her.
She nodded ‘yes’, eyes closed, smile wide.
XXX)))
“Hahahaa,” Chuck laughed. “You’re so cute.”
She pulled him in by his lapel, gave him another BIG kiss, this one lasting even longer than that other one did,
Finally, Helen said: “We can go now if you want?–”
“Wait, like, OMFG! Are you effing serious?! Holy lolling crap!–”
“Yo! Chuck! This is a good one for you, man, come over here!”
Chuck ignored his dumbass friend, Dick, as he stared blankly at Helen’s breasts.
Twirling Chuck’s hair: “You’d better answer me before I decide I need another drink,” and she SQUEEZED his ass.
“Oh, I’m ready, gurl–”
“Come on, you dick–”
Dick pulled him away–
“But!–”
Dick was big and, being as drunk as he was (almost a full fifth of scotch to his face), a little more obstreperous in his strength than would have been imperative for Chuck to have had much of a chance at getting away. He dragged him to a circle of six people a few feet away, most of whom Chuck knew, though not all. Helen left to grab a drink, but would be back by Chuck’s side momentarily.
“So here’s the question for you,” said Dick. Then he got out of the center of the circle and let his new friend, one of the two people whom Chuck had never met, take the stage.
“So we’ve been talking about racism,” the kid said.
Chuck sighed, looked across the room at Helen at the bar. ‘Goddamn, look at those THIGHS, Thank the fucking lord for the guy who invented yoga pants.’
“I believe it to be a natural progression of human intellect,” the kid went on. “What I mean by that is this: back in pre-intellectual times, seeing something one had never seen before implied a higher possibility of danger. Once individual man’s intellect reached a point where she could comment on– and therefore make progress in, and to– society in a mindful manner, that ‘natural survival instinct’ had turned– by simple evolution, and a small, accidental sense of neglect– as well as, in many, though unrelated for my argument, cases, purposeful bigotry–into what we now call racism[32].
“As time went on, and this neglect continued unheeded and allowed to evolve exponentially and without intellectual restraint, racism as a more advanced ‘ideology’, or, perhaps more so, as an anti-mind/growth-inhibition or whatever you want to call it, eventually overtook the evolutionary survival trait which served as the original (tribal/primitively moral) basis for its Existence, which then turned the whole thing into an ugly form of clinging-to-tradition mixed with an ignorance of what ultimately turned man from beast to thinker. Obviously, those purposefully bigoted assholes had their impact as well, but they represent just another form of this ‘clinging’ I’m talking about: a ‘clinging’ to ‘tradition’ or a passionate sense of discourse with no regard to how other people may possibly go about thinking and living.
“This ‘clinging’ then became even more pronounced when imperialism inevitably overtook colonialism in the decades preceding World War I, hit a certain peak with the totalitarianism exploited, and put to fucking use, by such dictators as Hitler, Stalin, the Kim family and others; and then even more so with the advent of the Internet, and the connections–and therefore: the potential for confusions, misunder-standings and frustrations–between peoples, societies, and ideologies, said Internet would imply, or, perhaps, in another sense: accidentally exploit, or allow people to exploit.
“This huge new advent of potential learning and under-standing is something unprecedented in human history, and it will inevitably bring about certain truths which many people may be unprepared to face–as it will likely continue to do for a very long time moving forward–but, speaking for the people who Exist individually before being convicted by the Existence of society, which is all of us, as is implied by ‘the Soul’[33]: every human has her or his own experiences, and we each have a right to our own opinions and sympathies and, therefore, primal tendencies and experiential prejudices, assuming that individual Existence is indeed something presumed as Existing before the Existence of society. When this Individual process is twisted, yet continues to directly affect other humans as so concentrated within the societal-mind–by accident or otherwise, as there really is no difference–is where we find both physical and societal problems within any civilized coalition of individuals (society)–like those problems that give heed to radical fascism and totalitarianism–along with: that equally inherent ignorance to challenge it within ourselves, before we tell, or, perhaps in more cases, expect, others to.
“Your friend here–”
Dick smiled, nodded and pointed both of his thumbs at his face.
“Disagrees with me, arguing that there is an actual distinction between races[34], and that this distinction should be carried out in both societal policy and in individual thinking and action, which I wholeheartedly disagree with–”
“No, I said we all have a right to be racist sometimes. Because sometimes: Individual Thought Patterns are more important than societal woes. In fact, you literally just said that individuals come before society!–”
“I also said we were all entitled to our own opinions and prejudices, which you’re– now agreeing with?–”
“WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME TALK?!”
The other kid backed off.
“I mean,” Dick continued. “Maybe if we each actually gave a fuck about actually being comfortable with ourselves as individuals, and with the fact that we’re all going to Die someday–we are!!!–society wouldn’t be so torn in two. But how the hell am I supposed to tell these idiots terrified of Death that they’re somehow wrong in the way they view it, when I can’t know what happens after it? How can anyone ever justifiably tell anyone else how to perceive death, let alone how to Live–”
“You guys do know I’m more into Death Metal than that ‘philosophy’ crap now, right?”
Ironically similarly to Dick, Chuck smiled and pointed his thumbs at the Autopsy shirt he was wearing, depicting a guy SCREAMING as multiple needles and knives are STABBED at him all over his body (also the cover of their critically acclaimed 1989 debut Severed Survival).
“Kierkegaard ain’t got shit to say after reading the lyrics to ‘Charred Remains’[35]–”
“Alright,” one of the other people in the circle (in fact, one of Chuck’s good friends from school, Rich), said. “So: what do you think of the argument? Just, real quick; not overthinking it?”
Helen returned and stood next to Chuck with her drink in her hand. Chuck noticed her immediately. As a result, he hesitated before acquiescing to Rich’s request.
…
“Chuck?–”
“Oh! Well, first off,” Chuck said. “Dick’s argument is pretty much the same thing as yours is– ah, what’s your name?”
“Scott.”
“Scott–”
Chuck thought of Scott Burns, the producer of Death (band), Cannibal Corpse, Sepultura, Cynic, Obituary, Atheist, among many more AWESOME bands from the Tampa Bay area in the early-to-mid-nineties. He’s given credit for having a big influence on the audio sound of the genre, and was instrumental in–
“On the whole, or at least arbitrarily,” Chuck continued. “The thought that racism is an evolutionary trait could be considered the same argument in regard to the Existence of anything[36]. If it Exists, or it has Existed, it is part of, or it takes part of, evolution[37]. This is evidenced by the fact that it Exists. I like your thing about neglect as it pertains to racism evolving as its own more complicated entity or ideal though, aside from being a major (though simple) part of the individual, or, more recently, the societal mind[38]. Perhaps this new, more complicated entity-in-evolution (in this case: racism-in-evolution) is a combination of both (the societal and individual-minds)? Or perhaps a bridge between the two?”
Nobody had anything.
:(
“Anyway, I’ve known Dick for a several years now, and I’ve gotta say– and I’m not trying to be a dick here– while I can understand this main argument, and, for the most part, agree with it– that sometimes that ‘Individual Survival Instinct’ must take precedence over any societal one–to argue it so passionately, and without any adherence to the fact that no conversation or argument is ever truly over[39], and that there are always other people with different experiences which have the potential to put any argument to rest so long as said other people think within an honest balance between emotion and technicality[40]– Dick, I think you’re, essentially– right now, at least– just trying to find an excuse for why it’s okay for you to be a whiny, racist little Douchebag–”
“FUCK YOU, HONKY!–”
“I will say, though, that after working with a few certain lazy, dumbass pieces of shit at the warehouse over the past couple of weeks, ironically all of one particular ethnic group, I can see why some of those stereotypes may exist when certain, rather unfortunate, situations give rise to them. However, to assume that this is not a one in a million circumstance is also naïve. To assume anything about anything is not only naïve, but pseudo-primordial and anti-intellectual[41]–
“But what is a very interesting thing about racism, I think,” mostly talking to himself by now. “Ignoring the complicated questions it raises regarding its specific fusion between emotion and technicality– which all entities/identities have– is when you come to think of how it may progress in the future[42]. Racism, prejudice, or anything Existing, or originating, or at least appearing to Exist or originate, in the individual-mind in such a way, beyond an image or any possibility for an outward attempt at definition, isn’t something that will disappear in a day because of some law, or even thanks to any single super-duper in-depth conversation. Racism has evolved over the past two thousand years, likely longer, and it will take at least half as long as that to phase it out, with or without human intellectual action, but it won’t do so without the individual-mind subconsciously choosing to challenge it on a moment-to-moment basis for its own sake– for the sake of questioning both itself and its environment, just as much as for the sake of growing intellectual evolution[43]– though this doesn’t also mean simultaneously ignoring it on an emotional level– or within an emotional context– or trying to force its subsistence on that level either[44]– because that would be one-sided and ignorant of its natural role, its natural role being: Existing (the fact that it Exists: the fact that it has any role in Existence) in the universe–given that people are going to have emotions, be they justified or not[45]. Nor, however, does that mean getting aggressively angry when some other individual says something that offends said personal individual-mind living in any societal context simply because of a difference in experiences or capacities for pride or empathy[46]. It means that the individual-mind must keep learning from this distinction or contradiction– it must keep learning from anything, regardless of the overwhelming familiarity of personalized emotions brought up by any particular thing– and it means that it must remember– before the societal-mind can, if it ever can[47]– that learning is something one does, before it[48] is something one remembers.
“This is inherent because, while racism may have come into being unnoticed, or at least currently observably unmanaged, by ‘The Universe’s’ or ‘God’s’ or ‘humanity’s’, or whatever you want to call ‘it’s’, societal and individual-minds, it is consciously in there now; whether we realize its true impact on subconscious thought or not, its influence is there simply because of its own possibility of existing–this possibility conjuring Plato’s Absolute Reality[49] and so reduced by the Uncertainty Principle in Quantum Mechanics[50]– even more so after it’s been recognized as something that wasn’t there in the past, as it was coming up. Racism, and unwarranted, primal hatred, will not phase out unless individuals recognize both ‘individual’s’ (any ‘indiv-idual’s’) faults and benefits regarding any individual problem, and the applications they may then have in a wider sense– in the ‘societal’ sense– and vice versa, though it, again, comes after the individual realization[51]: the more-mortal societal-mind[52] must recognize its relation to the individual in much the same way, though conversely: by passing consciously through its opposite– through the circle it does not understand without further probing[53].
“Coupled with the thought that ‘One’ cannot Exist without ‘The Other’, or the ‘many’ via Plato, the ‘opposing’ (complex) individual and societal minds (one versus the many[54]) underbellies the Existence of any complex circle of Forms–more directly and originally complex in the case of racism because it involves so many things (psychology, sociology, economics, history, culture etc.), amongst other, more inherently subjective reasons like the differences between emotions and experiences– and people regarding both those things–and ‘systemic’ racism’s (political) baseness in the ‘individual versus societal-mind’s’ mentality. It is how the ‘One-versus-the-Many’ is the ‘one’ and the ‘many’, or at least it is when it comes to racism, as opposed to other, less complex, though more complex than those distinguished as ‘simple’, Forms–”
“Yea, I’m not following at all.” –Scott.
“You don’t have to. Just read some Chuck Schuldiner lyrics sometime[55]. You’ll get it–”
“Well, I don’t like Death Metal, because it fucking sucks, and Kenny Chesney is, like, way better, so I’d rather you just tell me –”
“You don’t like Death Metal?” Helen asked with a chuckle. “What are you? A retard???”
“Fuck you, cunt, that word’s offensive,” and he walked away. Chuck didn’t care. There was some commotion happening on the balcony upstairs they were practically standing underneath, but Chuck wasn’t concerned with that either. No, Chuck was having a resurgence of his ‘madness’, of that same variety as that rant he’d had in his head the day before in front of his cousins #SoEmbarrassing, or whenever this kind of shit would happen.
Chuck stood deep in thought #DeepInThought.
“Chuck?” Helen asked, eyes still closed, smile still wide.
“Yeah, I’m thinking. I dunno–”
“Thinking about what?–”
The commotion upstairs got LOUDER–
“So, you guys have heard of Plato’s Forms[56], right?”
Nobody had heard of Plato’s Forms.
:(
“They’re also referred to as ‘ideas’. Basically, they’re the essence of what something is. So, when we speak of glass for example, we can shape glass in every which way, use it for this and for that and for all this other shit, but, no matter what, glass is glass, that’s what it’s made of. The same thing goes for when something is round, or square, or what is ‘human’, or what is beautiful, however those are obviously a bit more complicated. A liquid is a liquid and there’s nothing more, or less, to the idea ‘liquid’. I’ve honestly never looked into it beyond that, because that concept is pretty obvious to me. Plato lived over two thousand years ago. It may have been a big deal then, but now it’s pretty commonplace: paper is fucking paper, get over it[57]– it’s his theory of ‘Absolutes’ that is controversial, and I don’t want to get into that here. My question is: is there a more defined-though-not-defined ‘Form’ of racism? Or any type of ‘basis’ for a more complex Form, one even more complex than the subjective ‘what is beautiful’? Is racism itself so implicated in any potential ‘sub-ideal’, an essence, like the glass is glass, #Simple, or is it more complicated? Like a ‘Form’, or the entity, around which many simpler Forms, or entities, are based[58]?–”
More people walked away, leaving only one person left listening to Chuck other than Helen.
Chuck continued: “Keeping the inevitability of the invariability of human emotion and experience in mind, what is a complex Absolute if not the most complicated quasi-relative view of a simple Form? So complicated that it is impossible for mortal man to ever fully understand?”
The Skrillex song on the speakers ended, and Reggie the DJ was going on his last break of the night. It took Reggie a few minutes to get outside to smoke his cigarette, and a few more before the pre-made playlist started playing, the one meant to fill the gaps in sound while he’d go out on his breaks like this– a good minute before Chuck found himself permanently distracted, because, as Paul had told Chuck earlier (…Chuck forgot :( ): he and Shannon had convinced Reggie the DJ to put on Chuck’s pre-made #DeathMetalPlaylist during his breaks as they neared the end of the night, starting with this one.
But Chuck wasn’t thinking about that yet (because it had yet to start).
“What is a Form when thought of in terms of the Absolute or Relative concepts as structures?” Chuck finally continued. “Racism exists in all of us in some way; at the very least, it’s ridiculous to think that a person with white skin and a person with black skin have the same color skin. White is white and black is black– Plato’s Theory of Forms is over two-thousand years old– but, conversely, underneath the skin, we all have the same organs, something they didn’t know for sure back then, and we all have the same opportunity at happiness now, or at least far more so than they did back then, that’s for sure[59]. Human is Human[60]. So, clearly, this way of thinking is redundant, a thinking that describes images and outward appearances as more important than the true essence of a thing, a thinking that ignores the mere possibility of Absolutism in Forms, in any shape[61], or as a focused-fact based semi-opinion of something finite that may exist in any reality. Anyone with a brain knows–most even subconsciously, I would say– that this is stupid (Absolutes in perception, but not in Relativity). ‘Ignorance is Bliss’, but it is also drunk, anti-intellectual and, in many cases, ‘Death’– fuckin’ morons–
“And yet this thinking saturates the entire conversation brought up by the consistent and unwavering evolution of racism and prejudice, and more #ComplexForms, throughout all of time, within the context of the much more excessive traits of technicality or emotion which we can observe all around us– and that ‘time’s relation to human history, as we currently know it, in our finite ‘time’, (which currently is time defined), implying that humans could only exist as individuals, as far as we can tell (now…), in Absolute Reality! I used to think racism and prejudice were the same thing: hate is hate, regardless of whether it were based on race, religion or nationality, they’re all dividing factors–
“But I am now coming to another conclusion (beyond the fact that racism and prejudice are indeed not the same thing): why do we need these ‘dividing’ factors? What is it that makes their Existences ‘non’ or ‘anti-evolutional’? It’s because that is what they are! Regardless of where they came from, they’re currently, blatantly, holding us back! Racism is dumb, we’re all the same, and we all deserve the same opportunities! Are we clinging to them? In a primal survival instinct based in a perspective of anti-thought (survival-intellect)? Is it conspiracy? Is it all politics? Totalitarianism is a Dead Form of governing– just as Death is a Dead Form, in its Opposition, of living?–
“But does that make Death life’s only Absolute?”
o.O
He stroked his chin…
oo.OOO
“Can Death even be considered an Absolute at all[62]– or even just as a simple Form– considering that we can’t know what happens after it, by definition? And can life? Considering our inability to see life as a whole, in the same way that a cat can never objectively see its own tail?
“Is Death Metal an Absolute?”
He started talking FASTER–
“I mean I love Death Metal, yet other people hate it for some fucked up reason[63]. I can understand why other people may not like it, but, apparently, they refuse to understand why I love it, and, because of that chosen ignorance, they sell mindless desensitizing, ‘money-moral’ crap to our kids because, you know, ‘the economy, dude’, making those kids completely idiotic and self-centered, before they get blamed for being raised by it, all so that their looting parents at the labels and the radios can pretend like they have personal talent– which, in reality, they used to have but gave up a million years ago for responsibility. Death Metal is actual, technically challenging, and emotionally interesting music, and!– almost patently satirical, so that one may actually learn something from it on an ‘experiencing’ (by example) philosophical level, philosophy being the natural bridge between science and religion.
“In addition, then, in some cases, Death Metal may provide a path to the possibility of opening one’s mind– at any age– to understanding Death as just another part of the life process– while not a completely unserious one– rather than the ‘be-all, end-all’ everything or everyone else has always tried to convince us Death (Metal (Music (Subjectivity))?) is, for whatever reasons ($). I mean if Dying-and-Death[64] isn’t the Absolute Absolute[65], then what is???”
Trying to signify that the route to a private room was finally open, Helen, #StillSmiling, and with her eyes again closed, gently tapped Chuck on the shoulder #OMG #TheyreGonnaDOIt!!! #OMGOMGOMG #TheyreGonnaFUCKINGDOIT!!!!!
Chuck ignored her–
“Well, it certainly can’t be living-and-life,” he continued. “Because we’re in that, and we can’t know that ‘something else’ out there, that ‘something else’ in this case being ‘Death’– we’re not in Death, are we?? (?) Does that then bring up a need for a God? Or a type of ‘Overseeing’ Form? Or: a defined infinity #InfinityDefined? Because there are some things which we simply cannot know, but which are known to be ‘existent’, we need some type of factor which understands everything, a type of super complex Form of ‘Under-standing’[66], though an understanding which understands everything, even that which cannot be understood by anything–
“If the difference between Absolute absolutes and simpler absolutes lies within the process through which any entity applies the balance between emotion and technicality to the differences it then examples between individual and society, what can Dying-and-Death vs. living-and-life imply about #Love, for example, as something like that of the aforementioned ‘Super Complex Form’. Or: is love (not conscious nor defined) then the Ultimate Overseeing Overseer of all Overseeing Forms (like: ‘God’???) because of its inherent assumption of Ultimate understanding?
“But then: is it God?!?!?! God as apparently Overseeing even of love!!!–
“My love for Helen??”
=O
“But what do either of those things– or any of these things– do for us, the true individuals who live in evolution (evolving society), beside ourselves when we’re involved directly in our processes of doing the same thing (turning #Thinking into willing, and vice-versa)? If it implies anything, what could be the entity that turns that entity from entity into action, from thought into will[67]? Is it #Fear? Is it #Judgment? Is it love itself? Or some other form of love I can’t see or focus on right now???–”
Chuck turned to face Helen, his eyes very wide (OOO.OOO), and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Either that or #TrueLove is the Ultimate proof of Relativism over Absolutism in any #ComplexForm or IVS debate (IVS: individual vs. societal-mind)!”
Chuckling, Helen swished her nose against his.
“Because it implies undefined understanding– which is IMPOSSIBLE IN THIS REALITY!!! But the fact that #TrueLove can Exist– #TrueLove as the indefinable connection between the good, the true, and the beautiful– does that then make that proof the only Absolute Absolute? The only Relative or Absolute Overseer? That proof of that #Love? The proof of the Overseer? The Absolute Absolute? Is #Proof the only Absolute in a universe with an infinite amount of #ComplexForms coexisting in a #Time by definition impossible to define or pin down???”
He turned his head back, away from Helen.
“But how could there be any Absolute Absolute in anything if proof were all that were needed for its label?!?!?!?!?!?!?!–[68]”
He let go of Helen, now practically SCREAMING–
SCREAMING TO THE SKY!!!
XXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOOOO
“Would that then make proof the FINAL confirmation for the Existence of God?!?!?!?![69] Or, in another case, for the victory of tech-nicality over emotion– that individual emotions do not matter, only whatever is proven– whatever can be specifically proven– whatever God has deemed infallible???”
He went back to mumbling as he faced the ground.
“As God is supposed to be beyond all proof in itself as a Form, she is the only thing worth considering ‘too much’ in that line of thinking, forgetting unconscious love, of course, although I guess one could consider that God– but I definitely don’t want to go into that right now. ‘God’, as #Overseeing, would be needed regardless, at the very least as the only potential point of reference–
“But God is supposed to be inexplicable! Indeed, too BIG to understand or pin down in any way! So ‘God the Form’ can’t be an absolute if not in the Absolute Absolute Absolute, in the #ULTIMA-TELYCOMPLEX, sense! And any #Ultimate sense of categorization of any Form–simple or complex–implies totalitarian/ primal-grouping-for-tyrannical-gain/financially-manipulative tendencies[70], and a view of the universe which we do not observe[71]!!! It’s called the scientific method, you can’t claim something if it doesn’t make itself visible in our observable universe– it’s a fact, dumbass; for its most basic understanding, ‘facts’ are unchanging–
“Again, with these Ultimates, Absolutes, and Overseers!! What is with this #Circle?! And why is it that THE ONLY TIME I DON’T GIVE FUCK ABOUT ANY OF IT IS WHEN I’M THINKING OF YOU?!?!?!–”
Chuck GASPED, grabbed Helen by her shoulders, though more gently this time.
“Helen, does that make indefinable, Relative #TrueLove the only #AbsoluteAbsolute?! The sole #Overseer, even #Overseeing of #God?!?! The #Ultimate #OverseeingOverseer of all #Overseeing-OverseersOverseers?...”
Helen’s smile widened. The opening chord of Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’ finally put the speakers back to use, along with its thirty seconds of recorded rain which follows.
Chuck held Helen with one arm, raised the other with a FIST to the STARS–
HIS VOICE TO THE INFINITE!!!
=)))))DDDDDdpP :! :! :! ;\ ;\
“Does it make GOD as #ASingularDivinity the source of the DIVIDE?!” he SCREAMED, he preached. “A mask for the DEMONIC outbreak of human suffering as derived from this ‘per-ceived human thought over actual human thought and interaction’ ‘intellect’– Absolute Life over life itself[72]– the reality of any such ideology presenting itself as an Absolute the precise Relative Opposite and therefore withholding entity: the potential for the existential deletion of what it claims to be as–”
He cut off–
“Oh! Em! FUCKING Gee! Is this FUCKING SLAYER?!?!?! ?!?!?!–”
\M/O.O\M/
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!–”
[1] Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band. 1975. “Born to Run.” Track 5 on Born to Run. CBS Inc. Vinyl Record.
[2] Death. 1987. “Baptized in Blood.” Track 7 on Scream Bloody Gore. Combat Records. Vinyl Record.
[3] Sondheim, Stephen. 1979. “Epiphany.” Track 20 on Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Original Broadway Cast). Revelation Music Publishing Corporation & Rilting Music, Inc. CD.
[4] #Love as the ‘defined’ term/the definition we need in order to reference it, or: to know that any type of love exists at all; different from: #TrueLove (which is the highest/‘most complex Form’ of love (and: possibly infinitely Complex (?))), or simply ‘love’, which potentially represents all of the Forms of love in between, and/or, more generally, any Form having primarily to do with love at all (including #Love , #TrueLove , true love; potentially loving, or being ‘in-love’, etc.), if we weren’t to ‘need’ the ‘Definition’.
[5] Plato, Parmenides, 140e-141e, 154e-157b; Timaeus, 27d-28a, among more.
[6] GG Allin. 1987. “Bite it, You Scum.” Track 4 on Hated in the Nation. ROIR. CD.
[7] Intro to ‘The Circle of Forms’/ the Insanity Begot by the Circle of Forms (Postmodernism). (Plato’s ‘Forms’ could also be classified as the modern ‘Ideas’ or ‘Concepts’ #Circles).
[8] You Only Live Once.
[9] The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern half of the Roman empire for more than a thousand years between late antiquity and the middle ages (around 1453). From Donald MacGillivray Nicol and John L. Teall at Brittanica: “The very name Byzantine illustrates the misconceptions to which the empire’s history has often been subject, for its inhabitants would hardly have considered the term appropriate to themselves or to their state. Theirs was, in their view, none other than the Roman empire, founded shortly before the beginning of the Christian era by God’s grace to unify his people in preparation for the coming of his son. Proud of that Christian and Roman heritage, convinced that their earthly empire so nearly resembled the heavenly pattern that it could never change, they called themselves Romaioi, or Romans. Modern historians agree with them only in part. The term East Rome only described the political unit embracing the Eastern provinces of the old Roman empire until 476, while there were yet two empires… In an effort to recognize that distinction, historians have traditionally described the medieval empire as Byzantine.” (Nicol, Donald MacGillivray; Teall, John L. Byzantine Empire. Britannica. Accessed 6 May 2019. https://britannica.com/place/byzantine-empire)
[10] The uncertainty principle (for position and momentum) states that one cannot assign exact simultaneous values to the position and momentum of a physical system. Rather, these quantities can only be determined with some characteristic “uncertainties” that cannot become arbitrarily small simultaneously (The Uncertainty Principle. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Oct 8 2001, Substantial Revision Jul 12 2016. Accessed Apr 9 2017. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-uncertainty/. (In other words: you cannot measure both the position and the velocity of a particle simultaneously on the smallest scale; the mere act of ‘measuring’ makes the study invalid.)
[11] Using the uncertainty principle as a metaphor: you can’t know one thing/Form in full if you know its direct/simple opposite in full.
[12] I.e. Plato’s Forms (essentially).
[13] Or: Relative. (Intro to the Theory of absolute Absolutes/True Relative Opposites.)
[14] ‘Relative’ insofar as it is relatable to the subject at hand.
[15] Because ‘#TrueLove’ (or: #ComplexLove masked as a #SimpleForm) implies the potential for many opposites (hate, fear, doubt, etc. and any number of combinations of these (see: definition of ‘The Theory of Absolute Absolutes’ in the Glossary). These ‘complex Forms’ become more complicated as the argument for tranquility vs. true (perceived) ‘knowledge’ is developed, and: as an inevitable ‘Circle of Forms’ progresses and becomes ‘unavoidable’ #Circles… #TheCircleOfForms.
[16] Love of something? Love for something? Love inhabiting, or debilitating?
[17] ‘Relative opposites’ have an inherent sense of complexity to them; they are not necessarily Absolute, though they could be taken as such, if thought about deeply or for long enough (∞) and are indeed potentially closer to ‘Absolutes’, in their applications, than are the relations between simple opposites, as Relative opposites have more to do with the Will, or with Becoming (in-time), than they do with Thought or with Being (though they are not specifically 100% either one way or the other; Relative opposites induce this balance (or lack thereof) as more necessary). If we ‘need’ opposites to understand how the universe works– or even just to perceive the universe altogether– does that mean we also need what that relationship between ‘opposites’ implies: a challenge? Another way of thinking? Of Being? A challenge at times, and a compromise at others (individual thought)? Or maybe the balance between the two, that which makes them opposites? Or: that which makes both of them Existent in the first place?
[18] Phaedrus, 245c-246a, 249d-250c; Timaeus, 48e-52d; Parminides, 143a-144e, 150a-151e, 166c, etc.
[19] Plato, Phaedo, 74e–77b; Phaedrus, 244a-257b; Timaeus (all). (Absolute Reality: The place where Absolute knowledge resides, and where the Forms, in their true forms, Exist.)
[20] ‘Intro to the intro’ to the ‘Overseeing Forms’ concept of #TheCircleOfForms (see: next chapter). This could have the potential for even further foreshadowing of an idea presented a later in this story (so: spoiler alert): the idea that #Time (time defined) is the ultimate ‘Overseeing’ Form above all ‘Overseeing’ Forms, because it necessarily encompasses, both within and without, everything (defined?), and because everything defined (or: focused), necessarily has to do with it (time, without the hashtag). It’s the most basic tool behind Perspective, Known Existence, Knowledge, Relativity, and potentially even the Forms themselves #ThereforeTheMostBasic‘Form’? (see Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason).
[21] Plato, Phaedo, 69e–72e.
[22] absolute Absolute: A complex Form where the less distinct Absolute is the leading factor (see the Glossary on page 115). #Circles *CirclesManCircles *Circles *CirclesCirclesCircles…
[23] Or: at least more than there are complex Forms or Overseers, as far as we can conceive right now.
[24] The Circle of Forms.
[25] The differences between ‘Thinking’ as a mental faculty, and ‘Willing’ (Nietzsche, Heidegger, Arendt etc.), a variation/evolved interpretation of ‘Being’ and ‘Becoming’ previously mentioned. #TheWill is defined, although that thought is contradictory (because, technically, the will can’t be defined, because ‘willing’ implies actually doing things, and not thinking or defining them).
[26] Hobbes, Thomas. 1651. Leviathan, or, The Matter, Form, and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiastical and Civil. London: Printed for Andrew Crooke.
[27] In the exampled case: coming from the Will, rather than from Thought, though still in an infinitely mixed conundrum of Being between the two. (‘Unknowable’ because it is too complex.)
[28] I mean, what is ‘philosophy’ anyway?
[29] See previous footnote regarding the history of the Catholic Church (priests are supposed to be servants of God? If you believed in God, how could you let that continue unheeded without forgoing what it means to believe in God (unless you don’t consider priests using the name of God to justify pedophilia evil?)?) #ASingularDivinity.
[30] Definitions of ‘Singularity’ (from Singularity Symposium– What is the Best Definition of Singularity? 2012. Singularity Symposium. Accessed 7 May 2017. http://www.singularitysymposium.com/definition-of-singularity.html):
1. the state of being singular, distinct, peculiar, uncommon or unusual
2. a point where all parallel lines meet
3. a point where a measured variable reaches unmeasurable or infinite value
4. (mathematics) the value or range of values of a function for which a derivative does not exist
5. (physics) a point or region in spacetime in which gravitational forces cause matter to have an infinite density; associated with Black Holes.
[31] Full indulgence into anything/ necessitated unquestioning as the devil/ route to infinite evil.
[32] Racism as a Complex Form/a Complex Form masked as a Simple Form
[33] Pretentious backstory: in much ancient ‘philosophy’ (Plato, Aristotle, Aurelius, Confucius, among many others), the ‘soul’ is something that Exists, while still Existent in all of these, more so before and after ‘mortal’ life than during it. While opinions on what that soul is may be varied (of course), the point is: if society is a ‘man-made’ venture the same way that ‘mortal life’ has to do more with ‘mortal man’ than it does ‘the soul’, ‘God’, or the infinite–within the context of overall conscious ‘dominance’, for lack of a better term–the soul’s Existence still cannot be completely forgone (the mind can’t ‘know’ what it can’t even understand as possibly Existing or not Existing). Within the context of what is presented here (having to do with racism, the soul, and how individuals coincide with society), individual people make up society (or: S-Mind for short: similar to Jung’s Collective Unconscious, but not as influenced by archetypes), just as individual souls make up any potential ‘societal’ ‘soul’ (or: potentially immortal universe (infinite (‘the many’ (Plato, Parmenides)))), and just as atoms make up matter, musicians make up musical groups, songs make up albums, citizens make up governments, etc.
[34] Racism Defined as Divided Evolution
[35] “Gutwrenching screams fill the air. The rancid smell of burning hair. Screaming in excruciating pain. Blood boils over, warping veins. Burnt skull collapses onto melting brains. Spontaneous death, up in flames. Twisting and writhing as life burns away. Until nothing is left but charred remains.” (Autopsy. 1989. “Charred Remains.” Track 27 on Severed Survival. Peaceville Records. Universal Music Publishing Group. CD.
[36] Any Form ‘in-evolution’ (becoming).
[37] Is this implying that evolution is a defined Form of ‘becoming’ without getting torn down, apart, or made more complicated by the fact that it is ‘defined’? Is it saying that evolution is the most complex Form, AND!– the Ultimate Overseeing Form of all Overseers because it is time both undefined and defined simultaneously?
[38] Is neglect, or any kind of ignorance, needed for the designation of a complex Form? Or is it more so heeded in situations where such complex Forms may become distorted or consciously mangled for ‘tyrannical’ gain ($), or for some other malicious purpose?
[39] Plato, Critias, Protagoras, Gorgias (actually, just anything by Plato).
[40] ‘Technicality’ is here meant to mean ‘in opposition to emotion’, or the proposition ‘2+2=4’ opposed to the proposition ‘I’m happy right now’. The in-action objectivity opposed to the in-action subjectivity
[41] #RacismDefinedAsDividedEvolutionAgain (‘Anti-Intellectual’ in this case: specifically sub-primal, and ignorant of the possibly of the Existence of ‘intellect’ as a Form.)
[42] Racism as a Complex Form continued, Complex Forms continued, intro to Emotion Vs. Technicality.
[43] The ‘Individual Mind’ questioning itself and its environment is growing intellectual evolution
[44] Emotion and technicality as complex Forms.
[45] Do ‘Justified Emotions’ as a complex Form even exist? Aren’t emotions automatically justified in themselves, given that they are inherently personalized/subjective in their trajectory, and based in Absolute individualism, perspective experience/knowledge, and nothing else? This is ignoring the fact that emotions can be manipulated– that manipulation is still an outside force, outside of ‘emotion’, or at least the individualized Form of emotion. If emotions can be ‘justified’ in any way similar to the way in which technicality can (a ‘fact’ is a fact–that 3x3=9 will not change in this reality, that’s pretty much the most ‘justified’ you can get about a thing), can they be considered to have the same impact in any specific argument (keeping individuality as phenomenologically Existent before society) as technicality? Or, because they’re so inherently different (technicality/fact, and emotion/feeling), forgetting any biases, is it possible to become blind to one, due to an indulgence into the other? Or?!: through an indulgence into the fact that one is ‘justified’ because of it (either emotion or technicality)? #DontEverForgetTheBalanceBro #TheBalanceOfTheUniverse #CirclesCirclesCircles #TheCircleOfForms
[46] A defect in one’s capacity for empathy could result in a surplus in motivation, perhaps as a result of upbringing; a defect in the capacity for pride could wind up producing resentment; there are all sorts of variations in this thought.
[47] This could imply a backwards effect: the societal-mind remembers what is learned, while the individual is the one doing the learning.
[48] Or: its subsequent product (whatever has been learned).
[49] Plato, Phaedo, 74e–77b.
[50] So (to?): ‘Absolute Relativity’? #AbsoluteRealityRelativity? #AbsoluteRelativity #QuantumRelativity?
[51] Individual soul’s transcendence into Absolute Reality through society-mind (Absolute Relativity)
[52] Because the societal-mind is made up of a coalition of individual-minds–the individual being the closer of the two to ‘The Soul’–the societal-mind tends to have a more ‘mortal-ized’ outlook on life; it is through the ‘mortal’ that a society becomes ‘immortal’; through the ‘immortal’ that an individual becomes ‘mortal’.
[53] Circle of Forms continued/ transition to Circles of Complex Forms
[54] Plato, Parminides (all of it). (The individual ‘obscurity’ vs. the collective ‘infinity’?)
[55] “An illusion of privacy. Together - they absorb each other’s lives. As one - they will live and they will die. A living hell has begun.” (Death. 1991. “Together as One.” Track 3 on Human. Relativity Records. CD.)
[56] Plato, Phaedo 73c-81a, 100c; Republic 472-483, 500-517; Timaus 37-38a; Phaedrus 247c-250a; Parmenides (again, all of it) (Plato’s Theory of Forms is pretty consistently brought up throughout all of Plato’s dialogues, these examples are just the ones I thought either most important, relevant, or impactful to me personally).
[57] This is not entirely accurate; Plato’s Theory of Forms says there is the paper and then there is the Form of the paper (what the paper really is/what the paper needs to partake of to be classified as ‘paper’), but Chuck is conflating the two, and considers this conflation inherent.
[58] (True) Intro to the ‘Overseeing’ aspect of the Circle of Forms
[59] Absolute Absolutes=Facts/proven paths to ultimate truth/ultimate truth itself.
[60] ‘Human’ as an ‘overseeing’ Form when it specifically comes to race, gender, ‘religion’, political affiliation, economic opinion (knowledge), and most other ‘Individually Human’ attributes.
[61] Forms, and especially the realities or dimensions employed by them, are inherently not in our dimension/reality. We are not dead; how can we know for sure what happens after death? (‘Possibility’ as an Absolute.)
[62] Life and Death as Complex Forms, ‘Circle of Life’ as an absolute Absolute/potential Overseer (Circle of Forms continued).
[63] Death Metal as a complex Form, Forms/ misappropriations of simple and complex Forms as dividing factors Within the individual-mind, and, conversely, the societal.
[64] This is an example of a circle of a complex Form, a circle that is implied by its being a complex Form (for example: Death) in contention with another related complex Form (in this example: Dying).
[65] The Absolute Absolute: Ultimate Overseeing of all Overseers.
[66] ‘Understanding’ as an Absolute.
[67] The relation between Forms, thought, emotion, practicality and will.
[68] Proof/evidence as a simple Form (this is not to say that proof is irrelevant, to the contrary that there isn’t any argument against it is true within the context ‘technicality’ #Simple.
[69] God as The Overseer/the most complex complex Form or the only infinitely complex Form; intro to the Theory of #ASingularDivinity; Proof/evidence (or: emotion/personalized experience/passion) as an Absolute.
[70] Plato, Republic, 571a-576b.
[71] One fully dictated by man (or analysis), and man (or man’s intellect) alone.
[72] This could also be phrased ‘Relative Life over life itself’, and still retain its overall meaning.